The invention relates to a sliding door system for a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle.
Motor vehicles, in particular passenger vehicles, including, for example, vans or minivans, have gained great popularity in recent times. Owing to their structural configuration, such passenger vehicles have at least one sliding door through which easy access to the vehicle interior is possible.
Vans should provide a level of comfort comparable to that known from passenger vehicles. Components which may include, for example, electrically actuable window lifters, illuminating means, speaker boxes or a central locking system, should therefore be fitted into the sliding doors.
A sliding door system of this type is known from EP 1 010 558 A2. The sliding door here has, in its front region, i.e. the region directed toward the front of the vehicle, an upper and lower retaining arm on which a respective guide roller is mounted as a guide element. The guide rollers are movable in a guide rail on the vehicle body above the door opening or below the door opening. In order to move the sliding door out of the door opening during the opening operation and to move it into the door opening during the closing operation, the forwardly pointing ends of the guide rails are curved toward the vehicle interior.
As likewise revealed in the above-mentioned publication, a duct with a line-holding device guided therein is arranged on the side facing the door opening parallel to the lower guide rail for the roller mounted on the lower holder. The line-holding device is formed as a power-conducting unit from chain links connected pivotably to one another and is connected at one end to the sliding door and at the other end to a positionally fixed part of the vehicle body. The power-conducting unit has a curved region of interconnected chain links between both of its ends.
The energy-conducting unit mentioned here serves to hold and guide lines from a terminal on the vehicle body to a terminal on the lower retaining arm of the sliding door in order to supply various electric devices arranged in the sliding door with electric power, as already described.
A further arrangement of a sliding door system is known from WO 2005/090825. The guide rail and guide device here are arranged on the outside of or in the vehicle body in the region over which the sliding door is moved during the opening and closing operations. The retaining arm for the sliding door is arranged in the rear end region of the sliding door, i.e. the region directed in the vehicle rear.
Furthermore, said publication discloses a sliding door system in which the line-holding device is integrated in the guide rail for the guide element of the sliding door.
The previously known sliding door systems have one difference over the pivotable door systems known from passenger vehicles. In the case of pivotable door systems, the electric lines are substantially covered to the outside by the door panel or the pillar or wing panel and are therefore out of reach from the outside when the door is closed or else when the door is open.